Balance
by jamieallover1225
Summary: Why didn't she run away? How could she have been more afraid of Loki than she had been of the Hulk? The more he worked with her, the more he learned of her character. Aida was brash, quirky, and she wasn't afraid of him. Her enthusiasm was exactly what his apprehension needed. Bruce/OC Post-Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

Aida Agar spent a good portion of her time doing work. What kind of work? Well, for the past three years Aida had been an employee of Stark Industries. Her job was to develop medicines or chemicals that medics could use in the field to better or further aide fallen soldiers. She had a PhD in Chemical and Physical Biology from Harvard University; Aida had even discovered a molecule capable of storing energy or being capable of having some form of nuclear capacity(they were still trying to narrow it down), by the time she was 11. When it came to things like chemicals and molecules and everything else that made up a person and all of the things they could do, Aida was more excited about it than a child was about going to Disney World for the first time. Aside from the whole high brain function and really smart thing, Aida thought was relatively normal. Appearance wise she stood around 5'6"-probably closer to 5'8 1/2" when she wore heels(like she was today), dark mahogany red hair that hung down just over her breasts, and the ends falling in wisps at her layers some days. Aida had hazel eyes, overpowered by a lot of green. Like a typical redhead she had freckles, only hers were more or less scattered sporadically over shoulders and maybe a few on her cheeks, but mostly on her shoulders and arms. Tony must have found her attractive, she wouldn't have gotten the job based solely on her brains.

Today, however, was a strange day for Dr Agar. A childhood friend of hers was planning on getting married, she had also come down to New York to handle a few business things and thought she would give Aida a call to have lunch so they could catch up and Aida could meet the soon to be ball and chain before they went back to Massachusetts. They had to go eat at fancy restaurant - so instead wearing a v-neck and a pair of Vans like she normally would, Aida actually decided to put forth some effort. She put on a sleeveless green dress that meshed out once it passed her bust, making her cleavage noticeable. She paired it with a gold belt, a pair of sparkly black heels and some gold jewelry.

Lunch was great, however Aida was pretty exhausted. Mostly because yet another one of her friends was getting married, and she knew she wasn't going to hear the end of it from her mother. Her mother was constantly on the 'You're almost 30 and without a family' kick. Not to mention, Aida had also been asked to be a bride's maid, so this was one of those cases where she would hear 'Always the bride's maid, never the bride'. In order to take her mind off of the thought of that, Aida went back to Stark Towers to do some lab work.

The lab was pretty quiet, seeing as how it was one of the underground levels she didn't really hear much going on upstairs. Pepper had gone away to DC for business, though due to a text she received earlier Aida knew Pep was on her way home. Half the time she had no idea where Tony was, but as long as he was out of her personal bubble and not hitting on her, she didn't care.

* * *

After a few hours of being in the lab, Aida went up stairs to talk to Tony, to see if he was around. She stepped out the elevator, swiping and poking around at things on a tablet.

"Hey Tone, I think I figured out a new method of-who the hell are you?" She asked, dropping the tablet as she stopped dead in her tracks in a doorway to the balcony and looked at the man before her. Shit, not even just the guy but the the chaos that was happening beyond him.

This guy was decked out in black, green and gold sorcerer type armor. He was tall, thin, with green eyes and slick black hair that was in some desperate need of a cleaning. Standing, as he just fallen there it seemed, the man looked at her with a smirk and began walking toward her with some kind of glimmer in his eyes. "You think you can speak to a King like that? A god?" He asked, obviously trying to intimidate her. She couldn't take him seriously with that outfit.

"What, are you the King of the Forest?" She asked, the look on her face probably looked as though she was just saying 'Are you kidding me?'. "Seriously though, who the hell are you?" Aida wasn't known for sugar coating or beating around the bush, she was blunt and to the point.

The guy was now inches away from her, towering over her like a giant. "I'm Loki of Asgard! I am a God, I will not be talked to as such by mere mortal!" He shouted, though he had now taken the time to look her over, personally pleased by her color choice. _This guy is not checking me out right now._ "No matter how appealing they may seem."

Pursing her lips in a straight line, Aida quirked an eyebrow, closing her eyes. "Please back up." She requested, flatly.

"I will do no such thing."

"You're going to get out of my space." Aida told him, raising her voice. Her hands balling into fists and her eyes now open, staring him angrily straight in the eyes.

Loki leaned closer to her face, "You've got quite the bit of attitude don't you, my dear?" He whispered, a devious smirk on his face.

Aida's nose twitched, eyebrows knitting together. The redhead hauled back and punched him square in the nose though. The hit caused him to stumble back a bit and hold his face. Aida turned around, hunching over slightly as she shook her hand, "Mother fucker..." she grumbled, straightening herself out only to get knocked back by what they deranged god. She slid, her back hitting the glass behind her. Aida sat up slowly, blowing her hair out of her face as she looked up at Loki with a bit of fear in her eyes as he towered over her. She swallowed hard.

"You dare strike to your ruler like that, you insolent little wench!" He was about to bend down to grab her when a large green man jumped onto the balcony, sending Loki crashing through the glass and into a wall. Wait-green man? Sure, that moment had been a little frightening, but she was more relieved that she was safe, and also very intrigued by this green beastly figure.

Standing, Aida looked into the room where the green beast and Loki now where. She watched as the man slammed his fists against the ground like an ape and began charging toward Loki, only to be halted by his shouting.

"Enough! I am a god, you dull creature! I will not be bullied-" Loki's speech was interrupted by the green creature as it picked him up and began swinging him around like a child throwing a tantrum, ending it by throwing Loki against the ground - leaving him in a Loki-sized ditch, completely and utterly shocked and more than likely in a great deal of pain.

"Puny god..." the creature muttered, making its way toward Aida. So it spoke. This was good.

The redhead simply starred up at the monstrous man before her. She wasn't frightened, this thing had basically just saved her from who knows what Loki was going to do to her. However, this was the second time in thirty minutes that an intimidating _something_ was towering over her. The creature returned her gaze, lurching there as if he were waiting for something, like for her to scream or run away. When he received neither action, he snorted, releasing hot air over the scientist's face and blowing her hair about. He pointed at her. "You safe," he said, voice deep and somewhat barbaric. He then pointed over to where Loki lay, "Hulk smash."

Hulk. That's what he was called. Aida just continued to stare up at the Hulk, he had further clarified that he had, in fact, just saved her. She couldn't help but be in complete awe as he spoke. What a fascinating creature! Hulk sounded so familiar... Where had she heard it before...?

Hulk snorted again, getting impatient. Aida brushed her behind her ear, looking up at him with a small smile, "Thank you." Hulk nodded with a grunt.

"Hulk keep safe." That was the last thing he had said before jumping off of the balcony and latching onto the back of giant armored monster.

Oh yeah, that's right. New York was under currently experiencing an alien invasion. _Right. Awesome._ She should probably get off the balcony. With a heavy sigh, Aida picked up that tablet she had previously dropped when she had came onto the balcony and made her way back to the elevator, trying to avoid the massive amounts of concrete, bricks, and glass thanks to Loki's little tango with the Hulk. Speaking of the god, she completely avoided where he was laying in his hole, she wasn't dealing with that again. "Jarvis?" She called, the elevator going down. It took a moment but her employer's AI, Jarvis, had responded.

"Yes, Dr Agar?" The elevator doors opened with their electronic swish of a sound and Aida made her way into the lab.

"Could you please do me a favor and let me know when Tony is done saving the world?"

"Of course, Dr Agar."

"Thank you, Jarvis."

"It is my pleasure. Oh, and Dr Agar?"

"Yes?"

"Mr Stark would like to know what your wearing." With both an eye roll and irritated growl, if Aida didn't want to risk breaking a heel she would've stomped her feet like a child.

"If he wants to know so bad, he can find out when he gets back."

* * *

It had been quite some time since Aida had gone upstairs. The building had rattled a few times. Aside from the fact that it had broken a few of Aida's beakers it hadn't really bothered her.

"Dr Agar, Mr Stark has returned. The emergency elevator is currently operational for your use."

Aida sighed, "Thank you, Jarvis." The scientist made her way over to the other elevator and went up to the floor she had been on previously. When the doors open she found Tony, decked out in his Iron Man suit(minus the mask) and the Hulk, along with several others. A handsome muscular man in red, white and blue; a redheaded woman in a tight black jump suit; yet another handsome muscular man, this one with a large hammer and a long red cape; and another man with a bow. Where did Tony find these guys, and where exactly was he hiding them? Hadn't he heard of share the wealth? Of course not, he was Tony Stark, one of the greediest men she knew.

With the attractive group of heroes there were several SHIELD agents wandering around, some were putting restraints on Loki. Aida had known of SHIELD, she even worked for them for a few months before taking up her job with Tony. They had wanted her to do something she had no desire to have a hand in, so she left. Nick Fury was never really too keen on her after that.

"Hey there, sweet thing, are you all right? Jarvis showed me the footage." Tony asked, clanking his way over. If he weren't in his suit they'd be the same height right now. He eyed her up and down, smirk growing on his lips. "Did you get all dressed up for me? As a thank you for saving the world from an alien civilization?"

Aida snorted, "Are you kidding? Tony you'd be lucky if I felt like putting my contacts before I came to work in the morning." About 95% of the time, Aida wore her glasses to work. Today, since she was eating with her friends, she put in her contacts.

The billionaire's grinned remained, "You're prettier without your glasses, you should do contacts more often." Aida just rolled her eyes.

Both Aida and Tony looked over as they heard(and felt) the thuds coming their way. Hulk was making his way over. Once at Aida and the iron clad playboy, he lightly knocked Tony out of the way before taking another step toward Aida. He looked her over, not the way Tony did, but to make sure she was okay.

"Safe?" His tone of voice was curious as he took heavy breaths.

Aida nodded, "Safe."

It seemed like everyone had stopped what they had been doing to watch this exchange. This was the Hulk, a so called mindless beast, checking in on the safety of a civilian he had no relation to. This was bizarre.

Suddenly, the Hulk began to decrease in size, his skin returning to a light tan. In front of her now stood an average man in _extremely_ baggy pants. She recognized this man. Slightly taller than her, dark hair with a little bit of gray here and there. She wouldn't have recognized his hairy chest, but she definitely knew his face and she definitely remembered why the Hulk was familiar.

"Oh god, you're Bruce Banner." She muttered, slightly in awe. Aida loved his work, prior to the whole big green monster thing. Bruce didn't respond, he was barely conscious as he fell forward on to Aida, who could barely support him. She wrapped her arms around him trying to support his body. This was also the part where, due to how they no longer fit, his pants fell from his body. She could feel her entirely body go on fire, it was taking everything in her not to have a nerdy science girl break down. "Tony." She called, her nervous state extending through her voice, making Tony Smirk.

"Yes, darling?"

"...would you mind giving me a hand here?"

"Why would I want to do to that?" He questioned, his amusement ringing in his voice as he lifted his hands, a giant grin on his face, "I'm enjoying the show from where I am."

One of the other men stepped forward, the one with the cape and the hammer. "Are you so rude as to ignore when a young woman requests your help, man of iron?"

_Who are these people?_

"Hey now, big guy, I just saved the world from your crazy brother's alien army, you can back off."

"We saved the world, Stark." Corrected the man in blue. The three stepped in closer to each other, the discussion getting heated. The redheaded woman that was with them marched forward.

"This is is ridiculous, we just went through hell and back and you guys are going to argue over how to treat a woman?" The man with bow, stayed back, watching. Once the redhead got involved he suddenly felt it were better to stay out of it. Aida stood there, trying her best to hold Bruce up as they argued.

"Guys!" The grouped looked over at Aida after her sudden out burst. "Stop it! You just saved the world, awesome! Great job! I'm so happy for you! But right now I have one of my all time favorite scientists unconscious in my arms and he's a lot heavier than my body can support while up right in these shoes!" She blurted out, her face bright pink and her eyes panic stricken, "And can someone please tell mister high and mighty over there to stop staring at me, it's really starting to creep me out!"

Loki, sitting to the side in his chains and new found muzzle to prevent him speaking, had just been starring at Aida since she entered the room. A strange combination of hunger and amusement festering in his emerald eyes. He snorted at her remark, which caused SHIELD agents to escort him out of the room. His eyes never leaving Aida as they did so, causing to chills to run down her spine.

The man in the cape stepped toward Aida, "I am sorry for any harm my brother may have caused you, m'lady." He told her, bowing apologetically.

"Yeah yeah, it's fine, but could you please get Dr Banner off of me? I'm going to fall over." With that, the man took Bruce from her arms, allowing her room to smooth her dress out and get situated. "Thank you for that."

"It is my honor, m'lady. I am Thor Odinson of Asgard, God of Thunder." Aida blinked. Well, that explained why he was so attractive. Thor's introduction initiated the rest of them to follow in suit.

"Steve Rogers - Captain America, ma'am." The super soldier. Pepper had a picture of Tony's Father with him some where, Tony had tried throwing it out but Pepper held on to it.

"Agent Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow." Can you say frigid? Well, she was probably tired. Aida knew she could be bitchy when she was tired, not to mention she just got done saving the world and all.

"Agent Clint Barton, you can call me Hawkeye or you can call me Clint, either is fine." Aside from Thor, he seemed to be the most welcoming.

Aida smiled at the group of heroes, "It's nice to meet all of you. I'm Aida Agar," She shrugged, feeling odd without adding a second title like each of them did. "Chemical and Physical Biologist?"

"She's like Bruce, without the big green guy." Tony added for her, letting the heroes know she was more than just another pretty face Tony kept around.

"So when Brucey here wakes up, you wanna go to the shawarma place a few blocks over?"

Aida shrugged, "Sure, I don't see why not."

* * *

Bruce had woken up shortly after Tony invited Aida to shawarma. They all ate in silence. Aida assumed all of them had been pretty exhausted after, well, everything. They definitely had more reason to tired than Aida did. Aida just had to deal with her mother, they had to deal with super villains and extraterrestrials. After shawarma the Avengers, as Tony had informed her, made their way back to Stark Towers. Aida trailed behind a little, just looking at all the debris.

"I'm sorry if I, um, hurt you or anything." A soft voice asked from beside her. A little startled, Aida looked to find Bruce Banner beside her. Oh no, the fangirl was bubbling up inside of her again.

"Oh no! It's fine, you didn't hurt me at all," she told him, shaking her head and waving one of her hands. She scratched the back of her head lightly, "If anything, I should probably be thanking you. You did kind of save me after all."

Her answer got a single chuckle and a small sideways smile out of him. "I guess I did, huh?" Apparently Bruce wasn't used to being the hero.

"Yeah, you did." Aida smiled. Bruce, the Hulk, whichever one it was - had saved her, kept her safe. "I'm a big fan by the way, this probably isn't the best time to tell you that, y'know since you're just had a really rough day, but I love what you've done for physics, it's kind of amazing."

Another sideways smile, "Aren't you the one who discovered an energy storing molecule when she was eleven?"

"The very same," Aida grinned. "We only know it's _capable_ of stor-"

"Hey, you two." Tony interrupted, now in front of the two, "You'll have plenty of time to get cozy with each other later on, Bruce is gonna be in the labs pretty often."

"What?" Aida looked at Tony, confused.

"Yeah, I've decide to make Stark Tower the Avengers headquarters. Everybody's gonna have a floor. Since you have the best lab though, you and BruceyBoy might have to share."

"Uh, Tony, I don't thi-" Bruce started, playing twiddling his thumbs. Tony stopped him by pointing toward him.

"Nope, you're part of the team now. Nobody is gonna come near you, got it?" With a sigh, Bruce just nodded.

"Alright, good. Glad we're clear on this." Tony turned and continued walking.

Aida blinked.

So...

She was going to be working with Bruce Banner.

_Holy shit._

Aida bit her bottom lip lightly and continued walking with the group of heroes, trying to contain her excitement.

* * *

**A/N:** My second story on FF! I hope you all enjoyed it! This is an extension of my _Exceeding Expectations_ story, so you'll run into tidbits from that pairing every so often. Also, the bit about Aida when she was eleven, that's based on an actual event. I'm looking forward to just working with Aida and Bruce!

You can find her outfit here, as long as you replace -dot- with a period:

www dot polyvore dot com/safe/set?id=52607473

Thank you so much!


	2. Chapter 2

Aida stepped out of the now functioning elevator, once again tapping a tablet. "Hey Jarvis, how are the boys doin' outside?"

"Wonderful, Dr Agar. Mr Stark and Thor have almost completed the repair of the sign out front. They should be inside soon, miss."

"Awesome. How 'bout the inside?"

"I'll find that if you looked in front of you, you would see that Captain Rogers and Agents Barton and Romanoff have fully repaired the damages done to the interior."

Stopping, Aida looked up, finding that everything looked like it was completely back to normal. "Oh! Okay, well, that's pretty cool."

Over the past few days after the attack, the team had most of Stark towers repaired. Oddly enough rebuilding a few floors went by oddly quick whenever you had a few heroes on board. When Pepper got home the day after the invasion, she obviously tore Tony a new one which was more than amusing to watch. During various breaks Aida had spent a bulk of her time with Thor, who despite what his brutish tendencies implied was very smart. Bruce on the other hand she had barely seen. He had actually been avoiding her a little bit, Tony had told her about the whole being naked in her arms thing. On the bright side of things, Aida was starting to get passed her fangirling whenever Bruce was around. She figured she was going to have to contain herself and play cool if they were going to be in the labs together all the time.

Aida heard the elevator open behind her and looked back. Speak of the devil, here was Bruce. "Why hello there, stranger."

"Oh, um, hey." Did he always sound so nervous? Bruce played with his sleeves as he approached her. "Um, I guess since we're here I should apolo-"

"No." She cut him off mid-'apologize'. Aida shook her head, "You don't have to be sorry. We've known each other for less than a week and most of the conversations we've shared have been apologies from both parties. Enough of those. We're good." She hated it when all people did was apologize.

Bruce just looked at her, his eyebrows raised in shock though eventually look of amusement travelled to his face. He gave one of those sideways smiled and nodded slowly. "Alright then, that sounds...good?"

Aida grinned, "Perfect! Now, let's start over." Aida extended her hand toward her fellow scientist with the prettiest smile she could muster. "Hi, I'm Dr Aida Agar. Chemical and Physical Biologist, I work for Tony Stark."

Bruce nodded, a small smile on his face as he took her hand into his much larger one to shake it in greeting, "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr Agar, I'm Bruce Banner. Nuclear Physicist, I've been in Calcutta isolating myself for the past year or more."

Aida raised an eyebrow, "You don't know how long you were there?"

With a smile, Bruce shrugged, "You lose track of time."

Aida grinned, "I think we're going to have a good time working together, Dr Banner." She told him, releasing his hand and sliding her hands onto her hips.

Bruce chuckled, "One can only hope."

Aida grinned and made her way toward the bar Tony had, placing the tablet down on the counter and looking for a glass, "Now I'm going to give you a fair warning, Dr Banner," she paused, looking back over her shoulder, "I'm probably, more than likely, going to make you uncomfortable."

The older man raised an eyebrow, wandering over to the other side of the bar as the redhead got a glass only to fill it with water. "Oh really?"

Aida nodded, leaning back against the sink and looking at Bruce with a grin still plastered to her face. "Really. I'm loud, I'm opinionated, I like to have fun, and I might even get in your space. Me making a lot of bad, awesome jokes at your expense is going to happen and you will not be able to stop me."

Bruce chuckled, "Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

Aida nodded, "I'm a redhead stereotype, meaning I have a terrible temper when properly provoked. I believe that may be something we share in common."

"There's a possibility." Aida just kept her grin on her face in response.

"Nice outfit, Harvard, kicking it back to 90s grunge are we?" Ah, Tony Stark. Here to ruin the fun. How did they not hear him land outside and all of the suit come off. He was referring to Aida's chosen attire of a mint green plaid shirt with sleeves rolled up above her elbows, that hung open past the length of her cuffed jeans shorts which were just above mid-thigh length. Underneath her plaid shirt she had on a slightly loose fitting grey t-shirt that still managed to hug her in all the right places, which read 'I (heart) science' out of elements from the periodic table. She pulled it all together with a pair of purple Vans. She wasn't going for the grunge look at all. She just threw her clothes on in the morning.

"Aw, gee, thanks Tony. I was hoping you would notice." Without even thinking about it, she just got him a glass of his usual scotch and handed it to him. Tony smirked as he took the glass. Bruce watched with a slightly quirked eyebrow.

"You know me far too well."

Aida shrugged with a smirk, "You're just predictable."

"Auh!" Tony mocked a hurt expression, placing his hand over the arc reactor that kept him alive, "That hurts, Aida, right here."

"Yeah, whatever, where's Thor?"

"Outside summoning the powers of the universe, being loud, causing trouble. Y'know, the usual."

Aida rolled her eyes, "The man is a six foot four teddy bear, Stark."

"And you love him."

"Um, wrong. Very wrong. Thor's a demigod, from another realm. Not interested, not happening."

"I've seen your last boyfriend, Princess is totally your type."

"Again, incorrect. Are you trying to get knocked out?"

"Hit me with your best shot, sweetheart."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man, Tony."

"Then why haven't you done it yet, hot shot?" The two simply stood inches apart from one another, their mused gazes never parting.

"You're wearing your glasses today. What did I tell you about you and your contacts?"

"I don't need to look prettier, I'm a boss."

"Yeah, well, hate to break it to ya sweetheart, but I _am_ the boss."

Aida smirked, "Okay, you got me there."

It wasn't long until they heard the clicking of heels approach, "Are they at it again, Dr Banner?"

Bruce turned to looked at Tony's secretary/turned assistant/turned girlfriend, Pepper Potts. His eyebrows raised as he looked at Pepper, baffled, "They do this frequently?"

"Oh, of course." Tony answered, not breaking his showdown with Aida.

"Every day." Aida added, "It's sorta like one of those unstoppable force meets immoveable object type problems we have."

Bruce chuckled softly, "Well it would be a problem if it were actually possible, but that could never happen."

"That's because it's a paradox, Dr Banner. If an unstoppable force exists then there is no immoveable object and vice versa. Thusly these forces cannot exist in the same space." Bruce just watched her stare at Tony with an amused look on his face, "Say hello to Tony Stark the unstoppable force, and Aida Agar the immoveable object. Maybe sometimes we'll switch it up. Clearly we can't exist in the same space peacefully. Can you say 'walking paradox'?" Aida shrugged, continuing, "It's only really been explained through the philosophical realm. A philosophy is kind of just a theory that's never been physically tested, and I'm just the person to test it."

You would've thought Tony was a proud father or something by the way he looked to Bruce with a large grin on his face, "This is why I keep her around."

Aida threw her fists into the air, "I win! Suck it, Tony!"

Tony slammed his free open palm down on the table, "Son of a bitch!" Aida didn't pay attention to Tony's reaction, she was too busy doing some dance around the bar that Bruce could only assume was out of joy. Tony downed that last of his scotch.

Bruce looked to Pepper, once again confused, "What just happened?"

Pepper smiled, "Staring contest, Tony lost when he looked at you."

"How old are you?" Bruce asked, looking toward Aida, who didn't stop dancing as she answered.

"That's a good question. 27? 28, maybe." She smirked, "I lost track sometime after 25."

Bruce raised an amused eyebrow as his sideways smile came to his face. She was going to be a handful.

* * *

Later that evening, you could've found Aida sitting on the couch talking to Thor. He had been telling her tales of Asgard and what a glorious place his home had been, how he had been looking forward to returning despite having to leave Midgard.

"Do you know what they're going to do to Loki?" She asked, out of sheer curiosity.

Thor let out a heavy sigh, "I know not, Aida Agar. His punishment is to be carried out upon our arrival in Asgard tomorrow. What my father decides is appropriate for my brother is only that of his knowledge."

Aida felt kind of bad. Thor still cared about Loki and Loki seemed to care less. Thor told her how Odin, his father, took Loki in after the battle of Jotunheim, how he and Loki grew up together. Loki was adopted and he lived in Thor's shadow, she got it. But Loki didn't have to punish Thor. Thor was doing everything he could to get back in Loki's life. She had a younger brother of her own, his name was Avery and he was seven. He was her half brother, so it wasn't like he could ever find out that we was adopted, but Aida definitely took better care of him than their air headed mother did. Either way, adopted or not, Aida wouldn't have known how to handle it if her younger brother hated her and didn't give her a chance to explain or anything along those lines.

"I'm sorry, Thor."

Thor shook his head, smiling at her. He placed a strong hand on her tiny(in comparison to his hand) shoulder, "It is quite alright, you have no reason to bestow your apologies on to me." He paused, "Aida Agar, you are a woman of science, yes?"

Aida nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Do you know of Jane Foster?" He asked, his eyes softened at the mention her. It made her smile. Thor was in love with this Jane Foster.

"Yeah, I know of her. She's an astrophysicist, I met her maybe once during a presentation being given by colleague but I haven't held a friendship with her or anything." Aida was being completely honest. She had met Jane during a conference with Erik Selvig, who had been long time friends with her father. Despite having never really interacted with the woman, Aida heard nothing but good things of her character. The grin that came Thor's face at the thought that he was going to be able to tell some of his Jane Foster made Aida smile. This man was _such_ a teddy bear beneath all of the armor.

"She is among the brightest I know, in both beauty and intelligence." His jovial expression faltered, his shoulders dropped. It pains me to know she had been in harms way. Even more so knowing that I depart tomorrow, having left Midgard and not to have made contact with her. Ever since the battle with the Chitauri ended, she has been one of the only things to pass through my thoughts. I made a vow that I would come to her upon my return and I have broken said vow. I only wish for her to know that my fondness for her grows with each and every moment we are apart."

Jane Foster was one lucky girl. Aida could definitely tell why Tony constantly mocked Thor for his Shakespearean speech patterns. In all honesty it was something you could really get comfortable listening to.

Aida smiled and patted Thor's arm lightly, "I'll make sure she gets the message, Thor."

Thor smiled, "Thank you, your favor means a great deal." He looked to the hand that rest on his arm and took it into both of his large ones, turning it palm side up. Concerned, he grabbed the other hand and did the same. "Aida Agar, it appears you have strange enchantments written on the underbellies of your wrists." Aida smiled, Thor had been referring to Aida's two tattoos. She had the molecular make up of two neurotransmitters tattooed on the inside of each of her wrists. They were relatively small, maybe two and half inches in length; simple black lines and letters. Her left was GABA, the one responsible for relaxation, her right was glutamate, which could excite. Thor looked at her, some type of anger and concern in his eyes, his voice on the edge of raising, "Are you certain my brother has not harmed you?"

_Oh gosh. _"No, no!" Aida pulled her hands back from the god and held them up to face him, "They're tattoos. I had these put on me. They're not any form of sorcery, I swear." Thor sat back, relaxed now.

"What are these strange markings?"

"They're neurotransmitters." The god furrowed his brow, confused by his new scientist friend's words. "Um," _This is going to be difficult to explain to him. _"Neurotransmitters exist in your brain. Your's, mine, Tony's, even Jane's. These things interact with receptors in your brain, which help you function a certain way, which also makes you feel certain things. Seratonin, for example, is what makes you feel happy. Let's say you're with Jane. In situations such as this your brain releases seratonin and when it interacts with those receptors, you receive feelings of happiness."

Thor nodded, seeming to follow the redhead's words. He pointed to her wrists, "Are these symbols this seratonin of which you speak?"

Aida shook her head, "Nope. This is GABA," she held up her left wrist, "GABA is responsible for sedating your system, so it relaxes you. My other wrist is glutamate," she held up her right, "glutamate does the opposite, it makes your system operate faster, so it excites you."

Thor tilted his head, "Do these two forces not cause chaos with one another?" Aida smiled, shaking her head at the ever curious god of thunder.

"They create balance."

* * *

After whatever festivities and good byes occurred that evening, Aida had found her home in the labs with a bag of green grapes, her time there extending far past her hours. She had remained there, drawing up ideas and writing down notes. After her conversation with Thor earlier, she was determined to discover one of two things. One; a way to connect Earth and Asgard so that Thor could travel between the two while the Bifrost was down. This however seemed very, _very_ impractical upon the realization that she didn't have access to anything that could have given her the type of information she needed. So she would settle for option two - a way to communicate between realms.

She heard the door to the lab open up and she looked over to find Bruce, now a little nervous. "Oh, I'm sorry..." As soon as 'I'm sorry' came out of his mouth, Aida looked at him over the top of her glasses, lifting an eyebrow. Her reaction made him smile a bit.

"I forgot?"

Aida popped a grape into her mouth, "Yeah, uh-huh."

He found his way beside her, looking at her notes and doodles. "So what's this?"

"I'm trying to maneuver a way to make a cell phone have, lets say, infinite battery life-" She stopped, thought for a minute. The molecule. When she discovered it they named it Tetranitratoxycarbon, probably because it had four sides and because of it consisted of. It was capable of storing energy, they knew that much.

"What's the problem?"

Aida shifted her glasses up to rest on the top of her head and rubbed her face. "Nothing, this shouldn't be difficult. I was just trying to figure out a way to help Thor communicate with us and Jane while in Asgard."

Bruce nodded, "So I ask again, what's the problem."

"I just don't really know what thing to do to help store the energy. There's that molecule. Everyone keeps saying that because it so closely resembles nitroglycerin that it's too thermally unstable to be used for anything very practical. I'm not going to be the reason Asgard implodes on itself."

Bruce nodded with a shrug, "Good enough reason to me." Aida laughed a bit. They to sat back and tried to figure it out together, eventually coming up with a good enough prototype that they could've at least tried. Bruce leaned back in his chair and looked at Aida.

"Why are you so determined to make sure Thor and can keep in touch with Erik Selvig's mentee?"

Aida shrugged, "It's weird. My last relationship was long distance, it's rough. It's probably terrible knowing your boyfriend is a godlike prince from another realm, never knowing when you're going to see him again. I don't know, it's kind of a girl thing."

Bruce nodded, "So you empathize with her?"

Again, she shrugged, "Pretty much."

The physicist smiled again, his eyes shifting down toward the floor, not knowing what to say.

"So tell me about yourself, Dr Bruce."

"Hm?" He looked at her, as if she had taken him out a daze, "I'm so-" he stopped himself, "Excuse me?"

"Tell me about yourself. So you're a nuclear physicist, you turn green, you were in Calcutta, that stuff I know. Tell me more, gimme hometowns, favorite movies, favorite colors. The fun stuff."

Bruce let out a small laugh and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, uh," he started, playing with a pen and never really making eye contact with the redhead before him. "I was born in Ohio. Favorite movie? I guess it's _Weird Science_. Favorite color? Green, obviously." At his last statement, he looked at her smiling, causing Aida to grin.

"Was that a joke?" Aida asked, mock excitement filling her voice.

"It might have been." Bruce grinned and propped his elbow up on the arm of his swivel chair, resting his jaw against his fist. "Now it's your turn."

Aida stuck her lips and spun her chair around, "Well, I was born in California. My parents divorced when I was around 7, so I went back and forth from Pasadena with my dad and Boston with my mom, but I spent a good portion of my childhood with my dad. My dad was an archaeologist, but now he teaches Geophysics over at the California Institute of Technology. I have a little brother, he's awesome. My birthday is October 27th. My favorite color is probably yellow, green, or purple. Oh, and I LOVE _Ghostbusters_."

Bruce lifted his head up, "Your dad teaches at CalTech?"

Aida placed her feet firmly on the floor, stopping her slow spin to look at Bruce. "Yup, he was recently promoted to the head of the Geology and Planetary Sciences department, too."

"I received my doctorate from CalTech."

"Nice! They have a really solid program, if they had what I wanted I probably would've gone there instead of Harvard."

"You probably could've gotten Biochemistry. The two are similar ."

"Right, but with Chemical Biology you were taught how to understand the biological systems react to different chemicals and such. They're effectively the same they just have different approaches. Plus I got Physics out of the deal as well. College was basically just a review of everything I already tried to figure out on my own and told me whether I was wrong or right. I've taken graduate courses at CalTech, but seriously just the courses because I already had my PhD."

Bruce nodded, watching her. "You're pretty impressive."

"Why thank you, Dr Banner. That's a huge compliment coming from someone such as yourself." Aida smiled, "I like to try and press the limits."

"Which is wonderful, you don't find many scientists who actually go outside of the box. They consider it, they hypothesize and then they never follow through." The way he was speaking about how Aida went about things almost sounded as if he were baffled or astonished.

"I never have a hypothesis, I have ideas and find ways to make them work. I don't care what it takes, I won't stop until it does what I intend it to do."

"You're unconventional." Bruce leaned forward as he looked at her, looking her in the eyes. Aida recognized this, last time she was being looked at like that it was with a pair of bright green eyes by the creature that saved her. What was he trying to figure out?

Bruce understood why Tony employed this woman. Okay sure, she was attractive - _very_ attractive - but she was a genius in her own respect. She was driven, confident, fearless. Much like Tony himself. Bruce remembered having that confidence, that drive. That self-assurance got him into this situation. Actually, saving a teenager did, but it was his own creation that made him the way he was now. He could've asked her why she was so bold, so fearless.

"Why didn't you run?" Was all he could manage to whisper.

Aida looked at him, her eyes softening as she tilted her head. "Is that all you've been able to think about for the past few days...?" She asked, softly and very confused.

"Normal people run away." His voice was still soft, but his response made her smile.

"I think we've both know that I'm not necessarily what most people call normal."

Bruce barely cracked a smile. He couldn't help but be both very nervous and very excited to work with Aida.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed and added this to their favorites and alerts! I had a lot of fun writing the first half of this chapter, towards the end I felt like it might have been rushing things with them a little bit for some reason? Either way I think I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I'm already working on the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one!

www dot polyvore dot com /neurotransmitters/set?id=52675956


	3. Chapter 3

When Bruce woke up he found himself in the lab. Rubbing his eyes he looked around to find no spunky redhead in sight. He ran his hands through his hair and looked in front of him. After their little chat last night, he and Aida had spent a few hours modifying an old iPhone for Thor to use. Aida had even managed to awaken Erik Selvig in the wee hours of the morning and get Jane Foster's phone number. On the cell phone was a note. He lifted it to his face and put on his glasses, he always fell asleep with his glasses on so he assumed Aida must have taken them off for him after he fell asleep.

_Hey handsome!_

Just reading the first sentence made heat rise to his cheeks. _I'm blushing?_ Bruce shook his head. He wasn't a teenager in high school, he had no reason to blush at a mere sentence. With a sigh, he continued to read the young woman's note to him.

_ Hey handsome! Sorry to bail out on you before you woke up, but I got a phone call from my dad. He's decided to come visit me for some crazy reason, so I had to go pick him up from the airport. Anyway, have fun later, let Thor know I'll miss him and DON'T forget to give him that phone! Remember, hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn. I'll make the other guy piss your pants if it's still here when I get back._

_ I'll see you later!  
__ Aida_

_ps. Don't fall asleep in your glasses, Bruce. You'll break them or something. Didn't anyone ever tell you that?_

He chuckled and shook his head. He smiled at the note. She had nice handwriting. It was almost like rushed Catholic school handwriting. It was still legible, her letters were well formed and wispy; some of them connecting. Her signature was equally wispy, her D curved above her I. She wrote in a purple pen. He read her note over again, paying attention to last comment.

No one had taken his glasses off for him. He had fallen asleep reading in bed with Betty before and she would never remove his glasses. When you worked in the lab when no one was ever around, obviously no one was there to take his glasses off. Then again, Aida also had glasses so it seemed only normal that she knew to take your glasses off before falling asleep. Still, it was a kind gesture all the same.

It wasn't long before he heard the door to the lab open, he stuffed the note in his pocket and looked over. It was Tony, decked out in a grey suit with a purple dress shirt, hands in his pockets.

"Oh uh, hey Tony."

"Thought you'd be in here." He looked around momentarily before turning his attention to Bruce, "Hey listen, we gotta head out soon to meet up with Fury so we can watch Thor and Reindeer Games leave for the homelands. Get changed, I'll meet in the lobby, I'm driving." He turned to walk out, but he turned back to face Bruce, pointed at him with a look that said 'I know what you're hiding' and grinned, that was all he did before he left the room.

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head before heading up his room to change.

* * *

Once Thor and Loki departed, Natasha had given Bruce a bag of his things before getting into a car with Clint and leaving. Cap had also gone off on his motorcycle somewhere. He could only guess that Clint and Tasha had some form of date planned and Steve just wanted to explore the city. This left him to get back into Tony's shiny red convertible and drive back toward Stark Tower. Out of all of the people he met recently, he was probably closest with Tony.

"So what do you think of Aida?" Prior to Tony's question, they had just been joking back and forth and making plans. This was very out of the blue, not to mention this was the first time Bruce had heard Tony pronounce the girl's name correctly, with a long A instead of a long I.

"Uh, well," Bruce rubbed the back of the head, "She's certainly something."

"C'mon Banner, you practically came right there when she started going on about the irresistible force paradox yesterday."

"I'm sorry I find intelligence attractive?"

"You were up all night with her in the lab, weren't you?"

"May I ask why you're so concerned, Tony?" Bruce adjusted himself to turn in his seat and look at Tony, a questioning look on his face. Whatever he had or wanted to have with Aida was his own business. Tony didn't need to get involved.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there tiger. No need to hulk out on me." Tony joked, a smirk on his lips. With a heavy sigh Bruce just went back to sitting normally in the passenger's seat. "I think she'd be good for you. That's all I'm saying. I know she's attractive. Why do you think I hired her? She's hot, she's smart, she wears shorts practically every day so I get to look at her legs and ass and she's got fight in her."

"I noticed." _Everything you just mentioned._

"Not to mention she tries not to fangirl every time you're around." Bruce raised and eyebrow and looked at Tony, a look of disbelief plastered across his face.

"What?"

"Yeah, she probably would've dropped her panties right there when you hulked down if you were conscious."

Bruce snorted and shook his head, trying not to smile, "You're a liar."

"I wouldn't lie to you, Banner, not about that anyway."

The two sat in silence until Jarvis' voice came through the speakers, interrupting Tony's ACDC's Shoot To Thrill.

"Mr Stark."

"Hey now, Jarvis. What did we talk about with my music?"

"My apologies, Mr Stark, but it appears Dr Agar has a guest."

"Oh, okay. Bring up audio."

Bruce shifted uncomfortably, "Tony, this is a-" Bruce stopped speaking when he heard a voice come through the radio.

_"So you're tellin' me that you were saved by the Hulk?"_ The voice was fairly deep, sprinkled with a bit of a southern accent.

Tony glanced to his radio, "Who the hell is that?"

Bruce shrugged, "My guess would be her father."

They reached a red light, Tony looked at Bruce, confused, "How would you know?"

_"Yeah, Dad." _That voice was Aida's.

_"And you're all right?"_

_ "Perfectly fine, Daddy. Never better."_

There was a sigh, _"Aida, sweetheart, I'm not too sure I'm all right with you working with such...a hostile personality."_

Tony groaned, "This man sounds like he's Bill Compton or whatever from that damn vampire show." Bruce simply clenched his fists, his knuckles going white.

_ "Bruce isn't a hostile personality." _They could hear the edge in her voice.

_ "You've known him for a week, darlin'."_

_ "Personally, yes."_

_ "Aida, you don't know what he's capable of."_

* * *

Aida turned to look at her father. For a man in his late 60s he was doing well. He was a tall man, broad shoulders, short, dirty blonde hair that he fashioned in a manner very similar to their own Captain America, and green eyes. Her father was a southern gentleman and always would be. Aida was his only child, his daughter, she couldn't blame him for being concerned for her well being.

"Daddy." She stepped toward him, "You can know Erik Selvig, you can know Howard Stark, shit - you can even know Nick Fury, but you _do not_ know Bruce Banner." Aida knew Bruce was friends with Selvig, but just because Selvig knew someone that didn't mean her father would.

"Aida-"

"No. Bruce Banner is a man of great intelligence and has work unparalleled in numerous fields, I'm thrilled to have been given the opportunity to work with him on anything and everything. Now can you please show me what you were so concerned about?" Aida directed her father toward the computer where he brought up various notes, diagrams and equations. The redhead crossed her arms and continued, "I'm more than thrilled to have been given the opportunity to work with Bruce Banner despite his condition. Whether it be working toward taking Stark Industries another step further in providing medical aide toward the people or maybe even skipping through fields, I couldn't be happier to work with him."

She watched as the notes her father brought up floated around the room on various screens and his flat diagrams turned into holograms. A few of them she recognized as Tetranitratoxycarbon.

Completely unconcerned with what her father was about to tell her, she kept going as she examined all of her father's information.

"Despite your feelings, Dad, I could care less about Bruce's condition. No one's perfect. Hulk or no Hulk, he is a sweet man. The Hulk is nothing to be concerned with, I am most certainly not afraid of him. I'm thankful because he saved me. The Hulk is not a mindless beast, he is not a weapon; he is a hero and beyond misunderstood."

"You're fond of this fella, aren't you sweetheart?" Aida caught her dad smiling at her as he asked her that soft question. She brushed his comment to the side.

"This equation is wrong." She looked at him, all she did was smile. "All I'm saying is that as soon as Dr Banner walks into this lab you better treat him as if he's the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow."

* * *

"You can cut audio Jarvis."

"Yes, Mr Stark."

Tony looked Bruce with a large grin as he parked his car in the garage. "Do you need any more evidence, Banner? Go jump her bones." Tony got out of the car, while Bruce remained there for a minute. Smiling, he got out of the vehicle and made his way to the lab.

* * *

Upon Bruce's entrance, Aida smiled brightly, "Bruce! How did everything go?"

Bruce smiled a bit, "Well, Thor liked his phone. We showed him how to text and make phone calls before he left."

She smiled again, her nose scrunching up a bit as she did so, Aida looked at her dad and grabbed his arm, "Bruce, this is my dad. Dad, this is Dr Banner."

Aida's father held out his hand to shake, a large smile on his face. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr Banner, my daughter's said a lotta good things about you. I'm Jasper Agar."

Bruce was never good with meeting parents, his ex-fiancee's father wasn't exactly his biggest fan. Nonetheless, the physicist smiled shook the older man's hand, "Pleasure is all mine, sir. Your daughter is a brilliant young woman, I'm happy to work with her."

Aida smiled at the two before going to back to working on fixing her father's equations.

* * *

The rest of the evening seemed to pass by quickly. Aida's father had left, stating that he was going to go back to Aida's home and get some sleep, this left Bruce and Aida alone together in the lab.

"So what did your dad come for?" Bruce asked, stealing one of Aida's green grapes.

Aida yawned slightly, stretching her arms above her head. Bruce heard one of her shoulders pop and he cringed lightly. "He came to tell me he had some kind of break through with tetranitratoxycarbon. He was trying to tell me that he thought it might be capable of storing energy found in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere, his calculations were off though."

Bruce nodded, "I see. " He ate another grape, "Question." Aida looked at him, raising her perfectly shaped eyebrows in curiosity. "Why do you like green grapes? You're the only person I've noticed who prefers the green ones over the red ones."

Aida smiled a bit and shrugged, stepping toward him and reaching into her bag of grapes to grab a few. "The green ones are sweeter." She popped one into her mouth and played with a computer screen, deciding to bring up a game of mahjong. Apparently it was time for a break. She swallowed her grape and turned back to Dr Banner, finger on his chest, "Question." He nodded for her to continue. "Do you always dress like this?" She was referring to his yellow button down shirt with rolled up sleeves and undone top button, tucked into grey slacks.

Bruce put on a small half smile before he retaliated. He raised a teasing eyebrow, "Do you always dress like that?" Once again Aida was dressed in a pair of shorts and a v-neck t-shirt. Aida smirked and pulled on one of his chest hairs, causing Bruce to shout an 'ow' and grab Aida's arm. He looked at her with some kind of amused confusion, "What was that for?"

Aida grinned as she looked up at him through her purple framed glasses, "I wanted to see how you'd react." He chuckled and she just smiled up at him. Bruce hadn't let go of her arm and she just looked up at him. He didn't have a rough hold on her, she could've slid out of his grasp if she wanted, but who said she did.

Bruce looked at her, small smile on his face, "Question." He said softly.

"Yes, Dr Banner?" She had a sly grin on her face as she responded.

"Why?" His voice still soft, his honey brown eyes gentle and peering into her earthy ones.

"I already told you Doc." Aida just smiled, "The green ones are sweeter."

Bruce chuckled, looking at her through his glasses. "I'm kind of a lot older than you, Aida..."

"My father is a little less than 20 years older than my mother. My mom was about your age when you were my age. I don't really care about age, Bruce. The closer men get to my age the more I disgust them."

Bruce smiled lightly, sliding his hand down her arm to her hand, "I haven't actually been in a relationship since before...you know." He looked at her. He was looking for all of the excuses he could find.

Aida let out a small snort, almost reverting back to her snarky self, "That was what, less than 2 or 3 years ago?" Aida stepped closer to Bruce and took hold of his hand, "Bruce, I probably have you beat. I can't even remember the last time I was actually _with_ my last boyfriend."

He laughed, though his eyes concerned. "Aida, I'm not exactly...safe, to be around."

Aida grinned, "I'm not sure you've heard or anything, but I kind of have this body guard. He's an enormous green rage monster and he's promised to keep me safe. I don't really think I have a lot to worry about with him on my side."

Bruce smiled at her, she found ways to walk around all of his excuses. She was willing to do this. He reached up and brushed some of her mahogany colored hair behind her ear with his free hand, his index finger trailing lightly down her jawline. The entirely time he was taking small steadily breaths to keep himself calm. "I think I'm gonna need sometime to think about this... To figure out if I'm able to do this..."

Aida smiled softly, "I understand, Bruce. Take all the time you need." She squeezed his hand lightly, "Now, lets play some mahjong."

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for everything guys! I really appreciate all your motivation. The next chapter is probably going to be where things start to overlap with my other story Exceeding Expectations, the next chapter especially since there is a lot of essential communication going on between both Aida and the group as well as Aida and Bruce within that particular chapter.

**Amber-Jade James** Haha, I know! I can only do so much before it feels repetitive. And thank you! I've been waiting to have her interact with Thor ever since I first started writing for Aida. They'll be working on a lot more little projects like that in the future :) Hope you liked the chapter!

**ThoughtlessRage** Hahaha I see what you did there! Thank you, I probably would've forgotten all about that! It's taken care of now though. Thanks for letting me know! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Numerous weeks had passed, Bruce and Aida's relationship remained in a state of silly remarks and flirtatious banter. Bruce still hadn't decided on whether or not he wanted to act on their relationship or not. Aida had no problem with this, for she understood.

One night the Avengers, plus Aida and Pepper, all sat around the living area they had repaired about a month previous eating take out they had ordered. Steve, Captain America, had been awfully quiet as he ate his food. He seemed pretty lost in thought.

Aida looked over at him, eye brow raised in curiosity, "What's up, Cap? Something on your mind?"

Before Steve had opportunity to answer, Tony did so. "Fury came in today telling him he was getting a tudor."

Steve shot Tony a look before looking back to Aida in a much kinder manner, he rubbed the back of his neck lightly. "Fury's finally sending someone in to get me back in the world. The gal they found is related to someone I used to know."

It was Aida's turn to raise her eyebrows, nodding in excitement. She swallowed a bite of one of her cheese wontons, "Nice!"

The Captain let out a quick, short laugh, "I hope so. If she's anything like the man I knew, I'm in for a rough next couple months."

After swallowing, Aida laughed. Smiling, she patted Steve on the shoulder. "Relax, Rogers. You never know, she could end up being the girl of your dreams." Her response made the 92 year old man blush.

* * *

"I mean I jus' don't undastand, sweetie. You're a bright, beautiful young lady. You should have every eligible young bachelor eatin' outta the palm a your hand. I mean, ya certainly not gettin' any younga."

The following afternoon, it took everything within Aida's power not to roll her eyes every time her mother opened her mouth. Not only was her mother's voice fairly nasally, but it was thick with a Boston accent. Aida's father was from Louisiana, but he knew how to speak properly. Her mother was dame from Boston's North End, who could care less about what people thought of the way she spoke. Over the years Aida discovered few traits she and her mother had in common - they were both stubborn and neither of them cared what the people thought when they spoke.

For years, Aida's mother had been on the 'you need a man in your life' kick. Aida disagreed, though as of late she would've agreed with her mother in the slightest bit, she still disagreed.

"Ma, I'm not worried about relationships right now. I don't need to be one."

Her mother pursed her red lips and raised a dark eyebrow at her daughter. Aida barely resembled either of her parents. Sure, she had her father's nose and her mother's legs and eyes, but the three of them were also all very different. Her father was a tall man, once blonde hair, broad shoulders. Her mother was a dainty woman who barely aged a day over 30, considering her age was actually somewhere in its mid to late 50s. She had a curly head of long, thick, honey brown hair and eyes much like her daughter's. Aida was a redhead. Her facial structure barely resembled that of her mother's. She was positive whatever intellectual capacity Aida was capable of she could thank her father for. According to pictures of her grandmother though, Aida took more after her than she had her own parents.

Swallowing a sip of her drink her mother, whose name was Leah, looked to her, "Whateva happened to that one boy you were seein'? The real handsome one?" Aida gave her mother a semi-sideways look, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. _Oy vey, this woman has such a way with words._ Her mother sighed, "He was tall, he had reddish hair, he was a Marine? What was his name," Lead held her cheek as she thought about it, "Flynn?...Finnick...? Fifield-"

Aida blinked, "Are you talking about Fin, Ma?" Her mother had been talking about her last 'serious' boyfriend, Griffin Phillips.

Leah smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that one! He was a sweet boy, knew how to treat a lady. You were still seein' him last time I checked, weren't you sweetie?"

Aida shook her head slowly, "Uh, no Ma... I haven't been in a relationship with Griffin in, like, three years..." Though she wasn't particularly lying. She had definitely seen the man since the break up, but they hadn't gotten back into a relationship. The whole thing ended when he was getting activated and she got the job with Tony. The whole long distance thing didn't really work out for them. Then again, prior to being long distance they had been in a generally on again/off again relationship that oddly enough worked well for them.

"That's a shame. You two were real cute together. Not to mention he's a Boston boy." She told her daughter, slightly lifting a slender dark eyebrow in suggestion.

Aida rolled her eyes, "Maaa," she groaned, dragging out the word. Her mother really only liked the guy because they had spent time together as neighbors when Aida was younger, before her parents divorced. Not because he was handsome, funny, or fighting for the country or anything.

Her mother let out a laugh, "Y'know, Hillary's got this real sweet nephew I think you'd really like. His name is Ezra-"

"Mom, I'm seeing someone." She couldn't help it. The words just fell out. If she told her mother she was seeing someone, maybe she wouldn't have to go on a date with some lady from her mother's synagogue's nephew. Leah's eyes lit up and she leaned forward.

"Aida, sweetie that's wonderfuuuul! What's his name?" Her mother propped her chin against one of her hands and she listened intently to her daughter.

"His name's Bruce."

"Ooh, what's he do for a living?"

"He's got a PhD in physics."

Leah squealed, excitedly tapping her only daughter's arm. "Oooh! He's a doctah!" Her mother had been raised by a stereotypical Jewish woman, who only wanted her daughters to date doctors or lawyers, or anyone similar to those standards. Aida got a kick out of it whenever her mom got excited about things like any male prospect with a doctorate. She was definitely amused by it, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she should be okay with the fact that her mother made all of those stereotypes so true and funny?

* * *

After the exhausting lunch with her mother, Aida made her way back to the Stark Tower. She had taken the day off due to lunch with her mom, but after that she seriously needed to make something explode. She had surprisingly gotten a text from Thor that day, he somehow managed to always type in capitol letters, which made her laugh. It was something she always read in his loud, booming voice.

To make her day much, much better, as she walked into the building she came across one of her favorite people.

Nick Fury.

For ninety-ninth time that day, Aida resisted the urge to roll her eyes into the back of her head and hope for the worst. Instead she put on the best smile she could muster.

"Hello Director Fury." This would be third time Aida had actually spoken to Fury, The first time had been when he had told Aida she got the job with SHIELD, the second time being when he told her her assignment and her telling him she wasn't going to have any part in it.

The two stopped in front of one another. Fury nodded at her in greeting, "Dr Agar."

"I trust everything with Captain Rogers is going well?" The bald man nodded again. He adjusted his footing.

"You know, Dr Agar... It's been brought to my attention that you have been working very closely with Dr Banner. Our offer still stands if you're-"

"I'm not." Aida didn't want what he was selling. "I'm sorry Nick, but I absolutely refuse to be a part of something like that. It actually kind of offends me that you think I would even want to consider doing such a thing when you know the consequences yourself."

Fury let out a heavy sigh, he was being to get irritated. "Dr Agar, the point of that project was not to create a weap-"

"No. Don't give me that bullshit. That's exactly what you wanted me to do. You may be the spy, but it doesn't take a genius to know what your intentions are." Taking a deep breath herself, Aida put on another smile. "Now I'm very sorry, but I'm going to have to decline your offer once again. Have a nice day, Director." With that, Aida made her way past the large man and toward the elevator.

* * *

When Bruce returned to the lab after getting himself a cup of tea, he found a familiar redhead sitting at a counter with a pair of purple rubber gloves on and aviator style safety glasses. In front of her was a corked glass round bottom flash with what appeared to be a small bit of sand and a yellowish gas inside of it. Bruce watched her as she took a long, thin glass tube and placed a fragment of something on the end of it before placing it through the cork on the flask.

"May I ask what you're doing, Dr Agar?"

Aida looked back at Bruce and smiled before she continued to stick a thinner metal rod down the glass tube so that the fragment was in the sand. "You should be relatively familiar with this. Sodium and Chlorine plus water."

Bruce looked confused, "Why are you trying to make things explode?"

Aida pouted lightly as she grabbed an eye drop, squeezing a single drop of water down the glass tube for it to land on the piece of sodium she had placed in the flask. Without really thinking about it, Bruce grabbed the back of Aida's swivel chair and pulled back a bit. It didn't take long for the piece of sodium to catch fire and cause a small explosion within the flask. The young girl smiled and took a swig from a bottle that definitely didn't contain water.

"And drinking?" Bruce grinned and shook his head, "Getting a little risky, huh Aida?"

Aida grinned, "Drunk science is the best science." She placed the bottle down, "Nah, I'm too busy making things explode to be drunk." Bruce took her bottle and placed it elsewhere along with his cup of tea. He placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing lightly, causing Aida to close her eyes.

"Don't you have the day off?"

Aida whimpered, "Yeah, but I needed science to happen to me feel better."

"I see, what happened?" He asked her out of curiosity, half hoping it wasn't going to bite him in the ass.

"Well lets start at the most recent event. I bumped into Nick Fury about 15 minutes ago."

Bruce was confused, "Do you have a problem with Fury?"

Aida nodded, "Oh yeah. Before I had a job here, I had a job with SHIELD." Bruce took his hands off of her shoulders, moving to lean himself against the counter to look at her.

"Doing what?" This was the part that was going to bite him the ass. The minute he asked he immediately regretted it.

"You're not going to like it." He was gripping the edge of the counter now.

"It's probably best if you just tell me now and get it out of the way..." He told her, his jaw tightened a bit. Bruce felt angry and he had no idea why. Maybe the big guy was angry because Aida hadn't told him this sooner, why was she keeping secrets? Why didn't she think she could tell him? Why were all of these thoughts racing through his head?

Aida sighed, tilted her head back against the chair. "Well," She bit her lip before starting, "SHIELD contacted me about the gamma bomb shortly after you 'slipped' their sight."

Bruce looked at her, brows furrowed, "What do you mean?" The gamma bomb had been Bruce's creation. The gamma bomb had created the other guy. Why did SHIELD contact Aida of all people?

She shrugged, "They wanted me to make another." There it was again. That little bit of anger bubbling up inside of him. Aida didn't even seem phased by what was happening.

"But why you?" His words were almost hissed out through a tightened jaw and ground teeth.

Aida looked at him, "Well, it was a number of reasons," _Of all the times this woman decides to beat around the bush._ He thought, growing more agitated. "One; my dad knows Fury. Two; I'm a kind of a genius, and I needed a job. Three; I kind of followed your work like it going out of style for a while and-"

"Just get to the point, Aida!" He shouted, unintentionally breaking a small piece of the counter's ledge. As soon as he snapped, Aida was both on her feet and in Bruce's face. She stared him in the eyes, her brow furrowed and merely inches away from his face, her earthy hazel staring harshly into his brown ones. She wasn't going to be yelled at - Bruce or Hulk - she wasn't having it.

"They wanted me to see if I could've modified your original design to make it more stable, more controlled. They wanted to use tetranitratoxycarbon to see if they could possibly use that to either store it or make it more powerful. I wasn't about to put that many people at risk because I know both what that bomb did to you and that molecule shouldn't contain that kind of energy. Now, I may be willing to test the shit out of anything but if it's testing that fucking molecule and gamma rays I am not fucking doin' it." Aida didn't raise her voice at all, but the anger in her eyes flashed as Bruce's own brown ones relaxed. Just because his eyes went all soft didn't mean Aida wasn't upset with him anymore. She raised an eyebrow, "What and just like that you're not gonna bitch at me anymo-" The redhead was cut off by the physicist's lips crashing down onto her own. She was shocked at first, but she reacted quickly by closing her eyes and returning the kiss with the same amount of force.

Bruce had no idea what came over him - well, he had some idea, but he wasn't sure if it was because of the other guy, how close she was or maybe even the fact that her eyes some how got even more green when she was angry. Whatever it was, this was one thing he didn't regret doing at the moment.

He turned them around, gently pressing against Aida back toward the counter before lifting her enough to sit her on the edge. Aida's hands had managed to find their way into Bruce's thick mat of hair, crossing her ankles around Bruce. He slid his hands down from her hips to her thighs, squeezing them lightly. Just as Aida's tongue lightly ghosted over his bottom lip he realized what he was doing and quickly pulled back. His eyes wide with panic. He could feel his heart racing and the blood rushing to his cheeks, he shouldn't have been doing that.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me, I just, I don't, and you-" Bruce stepped back as Aida's legs loosened from around him. He stumbled back into Aida's chair, holding his head, breathing pretty heavily.

Aida sat there on the counter awkwardly, face flushed and biting her lip. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, "Well, um, that just happened." She said softly to herself, it was meant as more of a thought but it came out in the form of verbal word.

Bruce looked at her, still panic ridden, "Aida, I'm so sor-" She pointed at him.

"Don't you say sorry one more time, Bruce Banner. If you're even thinking about apologizing for putting my ass up on this counter, get rid of that thought right now." Bruce laughed softly and shook his head sinking down in the chair, he looked to her once more with those worried almost puppy like brown eyes.

"Didn't you have something else to tell me?" He asked, hoping to change the subject.

Making a face, Aida scratched the back of her neck, "Yeah about that," She put on a small smile as she raised her shoulders up, "My mom sorta thinks we're together? So if you ever meet my mother and she gets really excited and starts welcoming you to the family, she thinks you're my boyfriend. Just a warning."

Bruce's expression didn't get any better, if anything he looked more concerned. He didn't mind that Aida had told her mom they were together, but he wasn't good at meeting parents. Jasper was different, Jasper was a fellow man of science. "Is she anything like your dad?" He asked, hopeful.

Aida's shoulders slumped and she slouched a bit, pouting, "Oh Bruce, I wish. They're total opposites." Bruce just drug his hands through his hair before letting them slide down his face.

* * *

As if Aida's day couldn't get any better, after their little encounter Bruce had felt extremely uncomfortable, constantly checking his pulse and just acting very skittish.

"Bruce, calm down." She placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him to look at her

"I'm so-" He stopped himself from apologizing and looked at her in the eyes, "I'm trying. I don't normally do things that impulsive, I-I-" Aida cut him off by placing her lips against his, though she pulled back and smiled.

"We're even now, okay?" Bruce laughed and nodded, though she could tell he still felt at uneasy. "I'm sorry about everything with my mom. I had to get her off my back, she's been trying to find me a boyfriend since I've been here. She was about to set me up with someone from her synagogue's son or something."

Bruce shook his head, "Oh no, I don't mind." He was about to add more, but he was interrupted by Jarvis.

"Dr Banner, Mr Stark would like to inform you that dinner is to be in fifteen minutes."

Bruce blinked, "We're eating together?"

"Captain Rogers' 'teacher', if you will, will be joining us this evening." Jarvis was such a good artificial butler.

"Oh." He muttered. Aida smiled, she knew Bruce wasn't very good at socializing right off the bat. Letting out a small laugh, Aida lightly patted Bruce on the shoulder before heading toward the door. "C'mon Banner, lets go get some food."

* * *

The elevator ride was pleasant, they made jokes about her mother. Bruce even made a joke about telling her that they had eloped within the time Aida had told her mother of him and the time where he would actually meet her mother. That idea made her laugh, her mom would've exploded at the thought of not being at her only daughter's wedding. They settled down and exited the elevator exchanging friendly words.

Tony blinked seeing his employee, "What are you doing here, Harvard, I thought you had the day off?" Tony grinned wildly, "And with Bruce! You sly dog, I had no idea!" Aida did her best to keep herself calm.

"Psh, please! I can only handle my mother for so long, Tony, I had to do something." The redhead looked over at Steve and his new found friend, a small copper-haired girl with bright cobalt blue eyes. Seeing the girl, her own hazel eyes widened. "Molly!" Would you look at that. Aida known this girl for quiet sometime. As a matter of fact, she even dated her older brother, Griffin, who she and her mother where discussing earlier that evening. During one of the rough patches between the two of them, Griffin had asked Aida if Molly could stay with Aida in her home in Philadelphia while attending college. Despite their then current differences, Aida happily agreed. Molly was a good kid. When she was given a job with SHIELD, Aida left Philadelphia and gave Molly her home.

Molly laughed and ran up and hugged the young woman before her. "Aida! How have you been!" Molly pulled away from the hug, "What are you doing here?" The last time Molly had actually seen Aida had been before Molly was even finished with school, but they kept in touch. Aida had kept Molly informed on things, like she had been given a job developing medical supplies in Manhattan, though it failed her to mention she was employed by Stark Industries.

"Uh, I could ask you the same question, I work for that wonderful piece of narcissism over there." Aida gestured over Tony, earned a snicker from Clint on the couch.

Tony completely ignored her comment, "Aida? Thats how you say your name, like _aid_ a friend? Not like _IDA_ho potatoes?" He asked, putting an emphasis on aid and IDA as he spoke.

Aida rolled her eyes, "Yes, Tony. I've even told you that before, back when I first started working for you." She put her attention back on Molly, "Now seriously, what are you doing here, Molly?"

"Um, I work for SHIELD now." The copper haired young woman in front of her replied, obviously nervous about her response.

Aida made a face, her nose scrunching up and her eye brows knitting together, "Ew, really?" Her reaction earned a stifled laugh from Tony, and looks from both Natasha and Clint. "Hey now, nothing against you two, but Fury's a dick." After her encounter with him this morning her feelings definitely didn't change.

Clint thought about it and nodded, looking over at Natasha, "We can't really fight her on that one." Natasha just shrugged. Aida knew she always liked Clint.

"I'm not like a field agent or anything, I'm not like those two, I'm just here to help Steve out." Molly told her, as if that would make things any better.

"Oh okay, cool," Aida started, shrugging her shoulders, "so SHIELD's taking little girls away from what they should be doing, like making differences and higher education or things like that, and they're telling them to give history lessons to the world's favorite all American freeze pop?" She looked over at Steve apologetically, "I'm sorry Steve, no offense to you." Aida felt pretty bad, she liked Steve he was a nice guy, he didn't deserve to made fun of like that. She also caught a frown on Tony's face and felt a little proud. She knew he wished he had come up with that line.

Steve only nodded curtly, "None taken, ma'am, I understand." Such a gentleman. She would have to tell him not to call her ma'am again though.

Molly just looked at Aida with a look that made her feel like "You're really gonna do this right now, Addy?" She asked, her voice dropping down to a whisper.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aida saw Bruce check his pulse next to her like he had been doing throughout the day. She took a deep breath and just looked at Molly, "No, but I wish you had told me about it sooner." She replied, her getting softer as well. Molly smiled hugging the young but older than her woman again, Aida hugged back before pushing her away lightly. "Don't think you're off the hook, I'm still gonna lecture you about this another day." She meant it, too.

* * *

During dinner, which was actually just a few boxes of pizza that Tony had ordered from a few blocks over, the group just had light conversation.

"Where's Thor?" Aida asked, taking a swig of her drink. She had heard from him earlier and was under the impression he was going to visit.

"He had business to take care of in Asgard, he said he'd come back when he could." Natasha replied. Aida nodded.

Tony sat there eyeing up Molly and Aida with a great amount of curiosity. "So, how do you two know each other?"

Molly and Aida looked at each other, Molly just shrugged, letting Aida know she could give the response. Molly probably would've let everyone know she dated her brother, which was something Bruce didn't need to know today. Aida took a sip from her drink before starting, "When I was little I lived next door to them for a while, I made friends with her brother and sister. Moved away, came back for my senior year of high school, did the whole college at Harvard thing. When it was time for Molly here to go college, I let her live with me since I lived a few minutes away from where she would be going."

"So basically you're like the family friend type deal?" Clint asked, swallowing his piece of pizza.

The two nodded, "Yup, she's kinda like the little sister I never knew I wanted I guess you could say."

"Aww, Harvard, I didn't know you were such a softy."

"Don't ruin my dinner, Tony, I already had my lunch ruined by my mom wondering why I don't have a husband yet."

"Just tell her you're bumping uglies with Bruce." Aida twitched.

The whole table went silent, aside from the sound of Molly almost losing her drink. Bruce sat there awkwardly, deciding to take a sip of his own drink, a faint shade of red creeping to his cheeks. Aida's face was already red as she sat there giving Tony a look that would've made Loki cry. "What?" Molly practically shouted. That was when chaos let loose.

Bruce received a congratulations from Clint, and asked how he managed to do it. Molly sat there rambling off at Aida about what the hell Tony was talking about. Pepper was yelling at Tony for saying such things. The only relatively calm conversation going on at that table was the one Steve initiated with Natasha, asking what 'bumping uglies' meant, only to receive an explanation that made him, too, turn a faint shade of pink.

Aida sat there rubbing her temples for a moment before she rose from her seat, throwing her hands in the hair. "For crying out loud! I am NOT sleeping with Bruce! Tony you're lucky I'm not ripping out your damn arc reactor. Stop starting trouble before I show you trouble!"

"Fiery redhead, aren't you?" At Tony's comment, Aida just let out a loud 'ugh' and dropped back into her seat.

"Whose idea was it to get four redheads together at a table, anyway?" Clint asked, earning himself a smack to the back of his head from Natasha. Aida couldn't help but laugh. The thought of the four redheads working together was very amusing to her. They would probably make a good comic.

* * *

After dinner, Natasha helped Pepper clean up while Clint and Tony, along with Aida and Bruce, went to the living room. Steve and Molly stayed at the kitchen table, talking back and forth once again about a few things just to get to know one another before they began their actual lessons. Aida looked at the time and realized it was a relatively late hour.

In the living room, Aida stood up and stretched, "Alright guys, it was great seeing you but I think I'm gonna head back down to the lab get myself ready to head home." She said, waving a good bye as she made her way toward the elevator. Bruce stood and followed, "I'll go help you out."

"Is that what they call it nowadays?" Tony called after them. Aida felt the anger bubbling up in the pit of her stomach once again.

"Shut up, Stark!" Aida shouted, flipping him off as the elevator door closed. "I hate him so damn much sometimes." She grumbled, Bruce just smiled and shook his head.

"He means well."

"He's gonna get hit." Bruce stifled a small chuckled. Bruce wasn't all too bothered by Tony's words, in the short time the pair had known each other Bruce had learned to let the things Tony said just slide right off. Aida, on the other hand, was very angry, and it was actually kind of charming, as opposed to how she had been somewhat intimidating earlier. They spent the rest of the elevator ride in silence.

* * *

Back down in the lab, Aida gathered laptop and few notes she had taken earlier and stuffed them into her backpack.

"That was quite a fit you threw earlier..." Bruce mentioned, handing her a few files to work on at home.

"Yeah, well, Tony shouldn't go spreading rumors." Aida practically snapped as she grabbed the folder from Bruce. With her temper, she was surprised Tony let her work with Bruce. Though today was the first day her temper ever really made an appearance, with Bruce at least. Tony had seen it many a time.

"I'm talking about the one before that. What was that about, anyway?"

Aida sighed, turning around to face Bruce. "Molly is one of the smartest girls I know and she wants nothing more than to help people and prove herself to her family. She comes from a family where literally everyone is in the military except for her, because of this she thinks she needs to prove herself by being 'part' of something." Molly was a sweetheart. Molly never said it, but Aida knew that Molly felt as though she wasn't living up to her family's non-existent military tradition. Anyone in the Phillips family that joined the military did so because they wanted to, not because they felt as though they had to. Working with Captain America was something Molly had only dreamed about though, so Aida was happy that Molly had that opportunity.

Bruce nodded, rolling a pen around in his fingers, "And you think she's making a bad decision." What sounded as though it could have been a question was more like a statement.

"Close. I think she's making a terrible decision working for SHIELD, Bruce." Aida sighed, pulling herself up onto one of the tables in the lab. "I've met Nick the dick Fury all of three times, Bruce, and I don't like him. The first time Molly does something against his wishes or not in the 'How to be Asshole' by Nick Fury hand guide, he's going to get rid of her!" Aida wasn't holding back, she was very frustrated and distressed, and it showed. Bruce hadn't seen her this, in her words, 'frazzled' since the night they met.

"Why is that your problem...?" He asked, taking a few steps forward.

"I told you, Molly is one of the smartest girls I know, not to mention she's like my baby sister. She graduated summa cum laude from Villanova with degrees in both History and Psychology, and she's, like, the sweetest girl on the planet. She remembers everything and she's just-she's just a good person, and it just sucks to know that she thinks she has to work for SHIELD to help Steve out." She stopped, running a hand through her hair. When she thought about it, Tony probably could have given her the same job. "I'm not upset that she's helping Steve, she's always wanted to meet him, her grandpa wouldn't shut up about him. It's just... I don't want her to get hurt..." Aida sighed, leaning forward to put her elbows on her knees and rest her head against her hands. She couldn't help but feel like something was going to go wrong with this whole job Molly had going on. It seemed too good to be true.

Bruce put a hand on Aida's shoulder hesitantly, causing her to look up at him, he put on a small smile, "I...I'm sure everything will work out." He told her. Bruce wasn't good at this whole consoling thing, he had no idea what to say to make her feel better. He was trying though, and it was the thought that mattered. Aida just smiled back before hopping off the table and grabbing her backpack and heading toward the elevator.

She looked back at Bruce as she stepped on the contraption to leave the tower. "Get some sleep, Banner...and thanks for the help." Bruce just smiled and waved good bye to her.

Bruce was probably right.

Everything would probably be fine.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, guys! I was really busy with work and had a lot going on with trying to get funds for school. Thank you so much for all of your positive reviews, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next one will come out faster, I promise :)


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